the Informer

ADAM MANISON

Volleyball’s 2011 home opener on Wednesday night saw Hartford collapse to the Marist Red Foxes in five sets and was followed by losses against Rutgers in four sets, Sacred Heart in three sets and Brown in four sets.

Against Marist the Hawks fell behind a 2-0 set with a less than impressive hitting performance, finishing with a -.04 hitting percentage.

Eventually found their stride, making a resurgence in the next two sets with a .212 hitting percentage in the third set and a .222 hitting percentage in the fourth set, and forced a fifth and final set where they finished with five kills and five errors, but a loss in the deciding set, leaving both teams walking away with a 2-2 overall on the season.

Against Rutgers, the opening game of the Sacred Heart Invitational, the Hawks turned in a  .217 hitting percentage for the game, trading the first four games back and forth with the Scarlet nights and losing the final set for the second match in a row.

In the final two matches, the Hawks surrendered three straights sets to Invitational host Pioneers’ with a .113 hitting percentage and three out of four sets to the Bears with a .08 hitting percentage.

Despite the losses, a silver lining can still be found with junior Kami Nethersole, who  again earned All-Tournament honors and exhibited tremendous athletic ability, leading Hartford with dominant kill statistics

Along with Nethersole, three other players Senior Michelle Cordell, Lindsay Anderson and Sareeta Nethersole contributed solid hitting performances throughout the whole weekend.

Fatigue appeared to be a determining factor as the weekend went on in Hartford’s failure to find victory and will need to be addressed as they will be taking on Holy Cross on the 7, Navy on the 9, Deleware State and La Salle on the 10, Qunnipiac on the 11 and Bryant on the 13 in a six game stretch. -cc